


Björkman's Empire

by SamoShampioni



Series: Björkman's Empire [13]
Category: Eurovision Song Contest RPF, Music RPF, Real Person Fiction
Genre: ESC, Eurovision, Eurovision 2013, Eurovision Song Contest 2013, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-31
Updated: 2013-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-17 17:05:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14835674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamoShampioni/pseuds/SamoShampioni
Summary: Why couldn't things go back to the way they once were? Why couldn't Eurovision be an innocent if kitschy song fest instead of a symbol of an oppressive regime? The entire world had gone into an inescapable nightmare... one that it could not wake up from...





	Björkman's Empire

The Eurovision Song Contest. The Eurovision was supposed to be a peaceful contest. But it wasn't anymore. It used to be a party that all of Europe could celebrate peacefully with music. One man had changed that in seconds. Once regarded by some as a silly thing, the annual song contest was now the most important political event in the world. The whole of Europe was waiting for the annual song contest, to see what the future was going to be for Europe, or if Europe even had a future now that Björkman's Empire existed. What had happened to the world? Things seemed so different now. The Eurovision Song Contest wasn't what it once was. Sweden wasn't what it once was. But, Björkman had changed a lot of things like that. In fact, Europe had been a very different place ever since Christer Björkman became the dictator of Sweden.  
  
\---  
  
Why couldn't things go back to the way they once were? Why couldn't Eurovision be an innocent if kitschy song fest instead of a symbol of an oppressive regime? The entire world had gone into an inescapable nightmare... one that it could not wake up from...  
  
\---  
  
It was time. The Eurovision entrants had arrived in Malmö from all over Europe. Reporters gathered around them, flashing their cameras and trying to get rushed interviews. The arrival of the Icelandic entrant had made the headlines. Iceland had been practically obliterated by the Björkman regime, so why would their entrant come to Malmö regardless? Especially since he was a robot who had defected from Björkman's Empire in the first place. Why return here? Eyþór ignored them as he walked over to the other entrants.  
"What's the problem?" Eyþór snapped as the reporters flashed him with their cameras, "Ain't you ever seen Eurovision entrants before? Get a hold of yourselves!"  
Eyþór had come here despite the attacks on Iceland, partly because he wanted to represent his country, but mostly because he wanted to avenge his country. It would be much easier to end the tyranny that was Björkman's Empire while he was inside the regime itself. He was determined to make Björkman pay for his crimes, the dictator just didn't know it yet. Björkman had allowed him to come to Eurovision after he won the Icelandic contest Söngvakeppni. Eyþór didn't know why he had been allowed to come, but he did know one thing. Christer Björkman would regret it.  
The Eurovision entrants walked towards the steel gate, trying their best to ignore all the reporters shouting many things at once. Walking through the gate, they saw the words 'We Are One', engraved into the metal. The motto of Björkman's Empire. Also the motto of this year's Eurovision Song Contest. It seemed that the politics of the new Swedish empire would certainly not be kept out of this contest. Then again, no one had expected anything different.  
  
\---  
  
They were going to be shown their way around the stadium and then around the hotel. They were also going to be given their 'identity cards'. New items that Björkman had introduced to further his control over the already broken Swedish population. Marking the people as his property, and his alone. The Albanians were currently trying to get their identity cards from a receptionist. Adrian and Bledar were having a little trouble getting their cards.  
"Lu loo goo uh..." the woman looked down at the name on her sheet, "Lu lo gee,"  
"No!" Adrian yelled, "Lulgjuraj!"  
"Lu loo, uh..."  
"No not Lulu!" Adrian said, "Lulgjuraj! Can I just have my card please?"  
"Since this is taking a while can I have my card first?" Bledar asked.  
"Ah yes, Bledar Sejko!" the receptionist handed him his card, "Enjoy your card!"  
"Thanks!" he replied, taking the card. It had strange numbers on it and almost looked like it was glowing green slightly. Adrian was a little annoyed that Bledar had gotten his so quickly when they were having trouble with his one. Luckily, a member of the EBU intervened and Adrian got his card too.  
"What are these cards for, anyway?" Bonnie asked Marco Mengoni. No one had really explained what anything was for to the entrants. Not yet, anyway.  
"A new thing that Björkman has introduced to Sweden recently," Marco whispered back, "The identity cards... basically, if one of his robots sees you and you don't have your card to show it, then you get zapped, so always make sure that you have your card with you."  
Björkman's robots. Bonnie shuddered at the mention. The regime was well known for using robots against political dissidents. Many of the entrants had already seen the robots, as they were well known for leaving Sweden and going into other countries, despite Björkman giving empty promises that they would not. Some of the Eurovision entrants had underestimated just how controlling the regime could be, some of them regretted coming here. But it will too late for regrets now. There was no way they would be allowed to leave before the Eurovision Song Contest was over. Bonnie looked down at her identity card. This was all the stood in the way of her becoming yet another one of Björkman's victims.  
"Don't let it out of your sight," Robin added, holding his card in his hands. As a Swede, he already had an identity card. And he had already seen first hand what the consequences were for not carrying it.  
"This is all too much," Emmelie said, "How is Christer allowed to get away with all this?!"  
"Shhh, be quiet," Stoyan said, "There's a Swede coming this way... don't be saying bad things about you-know-who while we're here..."  
"Oh no," Robin said as Eric Saade walked over to them. He was wearing the yellow uniform and hat that all members of Björkman's Army wore. Back when Sweden had been a democracy, Eric and him had been best friends. After the takeover, Eric had become a fanatical supporter of the regime. Robin was disgusted at what his former friend had become.  
"Praise Björkman," Eric said, "And welcome to Björkman's Empire!"  
"Praise Björkman," Elitsa and Stoyan answered. They too were wearing the yellow uniform, having been sent them as a gift from Björkman to Bulgaria. Bulgaria's alliance with Björkman's Empire was going extremely well, and, although the two contestants had been slightly skeptical in the beginning, they now too looked favourably on the Swedish regime.  
"Ah, Bulgarians! Friends!" Eric grinned, "Great to see some true allies here! Unlike some others I could mention..."  
Eric then looked disapprovingly at Robin.  
"I heard you had to go to a 're-education camp', Robin," Eric muttered, "I'm disappointed in you."  
"That dictator had me sent to jail for no good reason. In any case, I'm the one who should be disappointed. What the hell happened to you Eric?" Robin asked, "We used to be friends, now look at you."  
"No, look at yourself Robin. You've become pathetic, you really have," Eric laughed, "You think you could take down our great leader?! Well, you can't. He's here to stay, whether you like it or not."  
"Jeez, I thought I was on the Junior Eurovision for a moment there," snapped Stoyan, "Because you're all acting like a bunch of kids. Who cares who supports Björkman's Empire and who doesn't?"  
"Well, obviously Björkman does," Despina replied, "Because he shoots anyone who doesn't."  
"The right thing to do, as far as I'm concerned," Eric grinned, before walking off, out of the room, leaving Robin to wonder exactly how his friend had come to support the new dictatorship.  
"Can someone really be so deluded?" Esma asked.  
"Yes, he can," Robin said bitterly, "And he's the last person I would have expected it from."  
"Maybe he's putting on an act and he's really in the resistance?" Bonnie suggested positively.  
"If that's the case then it's a pretty good act," Robin replied, "No Bonnie, he's really with Björkman... and to think all that we've been through... and he betrayed me for what, that madman?"  
"Sometimes, Robin," Amandine said, "You never really know a person's true colours until something like this happens."  
Well, that was true. Once Björkman took hold people in Sweden started to denounce their family, friends, anyone. Björkman turned friend against friend, family member against family member. That's just what the regime did to people. For all the talk of how hated Björkman was, he now had a loyal base of fanatical supporters, which hadn't been the case before the Melodifestivalen Massacre. Things were starting to look up for the Swedish dictatorship.  
"Come on," Stoyan said, "Stop this talk. They'll be showing us the hotel soon, so we have to be ready, ya know? Let's get the cards and get outta here..."  
The other reluctantly nodded, except for the Icelandic entrant, who turned away, defiant. He was determined, he would take down this regime if it was the last thing he ever did.  
  
\---  
  
"And this," Petra smiled, looking around at the hotel, "Is Malmö Hotel! I hope you guys enjoy your stay here, we've put a lot of effort in to making this the best Eurovision experience possible!"  
The Eurovision contestants smiled, mostly false smiles, to please the Swede.  
"Ah, it's lovely," Natalie from Cascada spoke, but she was lying, they all were. The truth was, they were all finding this country incredibly scary. Finding out that the hotel itself was guarded by robots had made some of them seriously reconsider their part in this contest.  
Suddenly, they were distracted from their thoughts by a figure coming towards them.  
"Wait..." Emmelie said, "Wait, is that? No...it can't be..."  
It was Sarah Dawn Finer. Robin was shocked. During the first semi-final of Melodifestivalen, Finer had insulted and mocked Björkman's Empire. Björkman's response was to have her immediately arrested. It was rumoured she had been sent to 'Björkman's Gulag', a 're-education camp' in Stockholm, but when Robin and the other Melodifestivalen entrants arrived there it was empty. No one had seen the Swedish comedian in months. And yet here she was.  
"Sarah!" Robin yelled, "Sarah! You're alright!"  
Sarah turned to him. It was then that they realised she too was wearing a yellow Empire uniform.  
"Praise Björkman," she said, "Praise Björkman's Empire."  
"Wha... Sarah... no..." Robin felt his happiness fade. She had been brainwashed by Björkman.  
"Sarah no!" Robin said, "You can't be serious! He can't have brainwashed you! He can't!"  
"Brainwashed?!" Sarah grinned, "My friend, it is you who is brainwashed. I have seen the light, my friend. I was foolish before. Praise Björkman!"  
"No! You can't... no!" Robin yelled as Sarah turned away from him. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He just couldn't. Sarah Dawn Finer had been one of the leading figures in the resistance, and now this was what she had been reduced to, another one of Björkman's fanatical followers. It was clear Björkman had brainwashed her for propaganda purposes, Robin was sure that when the rest of the resistance in Sweden saw what she had become then the movement would be demoralised.  
"I'm so sorry," Hannah Mancini said to him as Sarah left the room.  
"It's not your fault," Robin sighed, "We all know who's fault it is."  
And with that, the organisers of the contest showed up, ready to escort the entrants to their individual room. The first semi final would be in a few days time. The contestants didn't feel ready for it. No one did. They just hoped that things would go smoothly in the days leading up to the semi final.  
  
\---  
  
But they wouldn't. It was the very next day that trouble began to start for the contestants. The problem with having a bunch of Eurovision entrants stuck together in a building is that there is always some sort of argument. If there ever was an argument against world peace, then Eurovision Week was it, as people from countries who hated each other began to get increasingly annoyed at having to be in the same building as their nation's enemies. Even the threat of a looming despotic dictatorship did nothing to bring together countries who were torn apart by years of bitterness and hatred. The Eurovision was supposed to be a uniting contest, but there was no unity here. Even when they had a common enemy, the brutal dictatorship that was once Sweden, the in-fighting was huge. But for now that was forgotten, as there was an even bigger problem. For all the talk of wanting to leave the compound that was the heavily guarded hotel, none of the entrants were actually brave enough to do it. Until now. Cezar, the Romanian entrant, wanted to take a walk outside, as the robots usually guarding the building were no longer there. Why? There seemed to be no real reason for it, other than the fact that the Romanian did not like being told what to do by anyone, even to the point of rebelling against a repressive government. Despite repeated warning from the other contestants, Cezar was adamant about leaving the building. The two Bulgarians were standing with him by the exit of the hotel, trying to convince him to stay in the building, but it was in vain.  
"As allies of Björkman's," Stoyan said, "I think it'd be best if we advise you not to go out."  
"Indeed," Elitsa said, "He's probably got robots on patrol, or something like that. And besides, Björkman doesn't like foreigners to see what his country is really like. Everyone knows that."  
"Hmmph, I don't need to listen to you," Cezar said defiantly.  
Just then, Robin walked down the corridor towards them.  
"What's going on down here?" the Swede asked.  
"Robin, talk some sense into this guy, will you?" Stoyan said.  
"Why?" Robin said, "What's happening?"  
"I'm going out, that's what," Cezar said.  
"What?! Why? You can't go out," Robin said, "Björkman's set a curfew, remember?"  
"Who cares, we're the Eurovision entrants, we can do what we want! I can do what I want!" the Romanian replied angrily.  
"This is Björkman's Empire!" Robin yelled, "You can't do what you want! Not here! Not now! Stay inside!"  
"Nope," Cezar walked away from the Swede.  
It seemed ridiculous, went against every sense of logic and reason, and yet the Romanian still wanted to defy Björkman's official orders.  
"Stop!" Robin yelled, but was ignored.  
"Well, time for me to go, then," Cezar smiled, walking out of the hotel.  
"Someone stop him!" Stoyan yelled, and yet no one did a thing to prevent him from leaving. There was nothing the entrants could do as he walked away from the hotel.  
"Flamin' idiot!" Robin hissed, "He knows he's not supposed to leave the hotel!"  
They couldn't understand why he would want to go. For the publicity? To see what the country was really like? But then... they all knew what the country was really like.  
At that moment Eyþór ran over to them.  
"What on earth is going on down here?" he asked.  
"Cezar has left the hotel!" Robin yelled.  
The Icelandic sighed. This was wrong, everything was going wrong. If Cezar got caught, it would ruin any chances of taking down the empire, because Björkman would keep a closer watch on all of them. And who knows what would happen to the Romanian entrant if he got caught? They couldn't take any chances, they had to get him back, they just had to.  
"No," Eyþór said, "This is not the right time to strike against Björkman, he has the upper hand in everything right now. Someone should go outside and bring the Romanian back here, before he gets any further. He can't be too far, he's only just left."  
Andrius Pojavis stepped forward.  
"I'll go and do it," the Lithuanian said, "Might as well, I've always wanted to do something really heroic."  
Eyþór sighed. Andrius wasn't taking this situation as seriously as he should have been.  
"This is not a job for a have-a-go hero," Eyþór said flatly, "This is serious. This is an incredibly dangerous mission."  
"Well, if you're so sure," Andrius said, annoyed, "Why don't you go and do it."  
"I would," the Icelandic said, "But Björkman will be able to detect if I'm out of the hotel. I'm a robot, remember? One of his robots."  
Eyþór shuddered at the word his... but that's what he was, one of Björkman's robots. The other entrants often forgot this fact, and it was incredibly jarring to think that Eyþór was the same thing as the robots that flew around Sweden murdering dissidents and other opponents of Christer Björkman's regime. Suddenly, the Cypriot entrant, Despina Olympiou, chimed in happily.  
"Let Andrius go," Despina grinned, "I'll go with him! I've always wanted to go on an adventure!"  
Eyþór was growing more and more annoyed by what Andrius and Despina were saying. Hero. Adventure. This wasn't a cartoon. This was real life. They wouldn't even know the real meaning of heroism considering that their countries had been left mostly untouched by the far reaching influence of Björkman's Empire. His country had been destroyed and theirs... theirs were fine. But still, he needed someone to go and bring back Cezar, and quickly.  
Despina had disappeared at this point, and came back down the stairs holding Cezar's identity card too.  
"He didn't take his card with him!" Despina said, "Here, I've found it!"  
"So," Andrius said, "Can we go?"  
"Fine," the Icelandic growled, "You two go. Make sure you have your cards!"  
"We do!" Despina said as she and Andrius ran out of the building.  
  
\---  
  
Cezar was walking down the street, looking at the destroyed buildings, rubble lying everywhere, aftermaths of the attacks on innocent protesters by the robots. He had heard the stories, but it was far worse seeing it in person. If he didn't know better, he wouldn't even have believed he was in Sweden. Sweden used to be such a peaceful and good country. In only a few years, Sweden had changed for the worse. The brutal dictatorship left nothing untouched. He realised then that he shouldn't have come out here. That this was a mistake. He turned to go back to the hotel, but suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a buzzing noise behind him. A robot. It was one of Björkman's robots.  
"Unauthorized person detected. Where is your identity card?" the robot said.  
Cezar reached into his pockets, but there was nothing there. Again and again he searched his empty pockets frantically but there was nothing. He was sure he had brought his card with him. Where was it?  
"Uh... I don't think... I mean, I do have one, but, I just... I don't have it... right now?" Cezar stammered.  
"No identity card?" the robot replied, "Then you are not allowed to be out here. Christer Björkman has ordered the execution of all those found without their cards."  
"Wait wait wait," Cezar yelled, "You can't do that!"  
"I cannot disobey official orders," the robot said.  
"Well... what if Björkman told you to walk into Stockholm and just start shooting people, would you do it?" Cezar asked.  
"I cannot disobey official orders," the robot repeated again.  
"So... you would then..." A silly question. Björkman had ordered the robots to fire on the public before and they had indeed done it before. Many times. Cezar had made a huge mistake. How he wished he had just stayed inside the hotel. Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him. Andrius and Despina ran over. Luckily Cezar hadn't wandered far from the hotel and so he had been easy to find.  
"Wait," Andrius said to the robot, "What are you doing?"  
"Where is your card?" the robotic voice answered.  
Andrius showed the robot his identity card.  
"You are an entrant of the Eurovision Song Contest," the robot replied flatly, "Ok, that is fine."  
"Yes, we are all from the Eurovision Song Contest," Despina said, showing her identity card to the robot too.  
"Identities verified... Andrius Pojavis... Despina Olympiou... authenticity... 100%... reason... Eurovision Song Contest..."  
The robot then turned to Cezar, who was still fumbling in his pockets trying to find his card.  
"Identity... unknown..."  
"This is Cezar, from Romania," Despina said, luckily she had brought his card too and showed it to the robot, "Here is his identity card."  
The robot looked at the card.  
"Cezar..." it stated, "Security... verified...."  
Despina grinned.  
"We did it!" she said, "Eyþór will be so proud of us!"  
Cezar seemed less impressed as the three of them walked back to Malmö hotel. Luckily for them, no robots bothered them.  
"Well." Andrius said as they walked down the street, "What were you thinking? Why would you even think of doing something that?!"  
"Whatever," Cezar said, trying not to appear shaken up from before. Andrius was enraged that Cezar didn't seem to have learned his lesson.  
"You better promise me that you'll never do anything so stupid ever again!" Andrius yelled.  
"I... promise..." the Romanian replied, walking back into the hotel, "I didn't need your help anyway, I would've been fine."  
"Uh huh," Andrius said sarcastically. No he wouldn't and he knew it, so why couldn't he just say thank you?  
"I didn't realise that you don't get any thanks for being a hero," Despina sighed, "What a rubbish job!"  
Andrius sighed, she was right. This wasn't what being a hero was about. You were supposed to do the job and then get all the thanks and adoration... and everyone loves a hero. At least, that's how it works on TV. In the real world, however, things were a bit more complicated. Nothing is as black and white as it seems.  
  
\---  
  
"So," Eyþór said as Andrius and Despina walked back into the lobby, Cezar having rushed up to his room long ago, "Did you learn anything today?"  
"Yeah, we sure did," Despina said, "Being a hero sure does stink."  
"Well," Eyþór said, "That's only if you do it to be admired. Later, during this very competition, I may attempt something... that may seem to some... 'heroic'. I may not receive any thanks for it, in fact, I probably won't... too many people are enjoying the status quo around here... too much money to be made from Björkman's Empire..."  
But Despina and Andrius had already gone. The Icelandic was just rambling to himself.  
"What do you think he meant?" Despina said, as she and Andrius approached the room on which a large Lithuanian flag hung on the frame, "He may do something... heroic?"  
"Eh, he's just full of hot air like everyone else who claims to be in the resistance against Björkman," Andrius shrugged, "He won't try anything. No one will. No one else does."  
  
\---  
  
During all the commotion with Cezar, the Eurovision entrants had almost forgotten that tomorrow was the day of the dress rehearsal. Usually they had more rehearsals, in previous contests there had typically been an entire week just for perfecting the songs and the performances. But like a lot of things, it was different in Björkman's Empire. Christer Björkman himself had been using the Malmö Arena to host all sorts of political rallies, and so there was less time for Eurovision, less time for the contest. Less time for anything not related to Björkman himself.  
But Anouk was trying not to think of that, of Björkman, of all the things that had made her the way she is. How she was a genetic experiment engineered by Björkman. The attack in Hilversum... no... she couldn't let herself think about that. She tried to put it out of her mind. She was sitting in her hotel room, still sorting out the suitcases she had packed. She decided to throw all her concentration into packing the bags, rather than thinking about the country she was in. She was just unpacking her things from her suitcase when she saw it in the corner of her hotel room. Not as horrible as a tyrannical dictator, but horrible for her all the same. A spider. Anouk jumped up and screamed in shock.  
"A spider!" she dropped her suitcase and ran to the door of the room, "Noooo!"  
By this point Anouk was really acting over the top, and the other Eurovision entrants had gathered around the room to see what the fuss was all about.  
"Had no idea you were afraid of spiders, Anouk," Emmelie smirked as the entrants all tried to get a closer look inside the room.  
"Oh be quiet you," Anouk snapped as the Danish girl broke out into laughter.  
"This hotel is full of spiders," Stoyan complained, "I don't know how you haven't seen one before now."  
The spider began to edge closer to the door. Anouk wanted to run off but the many people blocking her exit meant that she couldn't.  
"Oh god it's coming closer," Anouk yelled, "Someone do something!"  
"It's just a lil' spider," Farid beamed.  
"Well then Farid, can you get rid of it for me?!" Anouk said, pointing at the large spider in the corner, "Please?"  
"Eh, no thanks," Farid said, backing off. He'd made himself out to look tough but when it came to it he wasn't really. And besides, the Azeri really didn't like spiders that much either.  
"Why not?" Anouk said.  
"Yeah Farid," Robin teased, "I thought it was 'just a lil' spider'."  
"Oh shush you," Farid said.  
"Well what about you then Robin?" Anouk said, "Can you get rid of the spider?"  
"Uh, no," the Swede backed off too, "I just remembered that I had to go do something else."  
"What? Can't anyone get rid of it?!" Anouk wailed.  
"Hey," Zlata said, "Your room, your problem."  
"But I can't get rid of it!" Anouk said, "Come on, surely one of you guys don't have a problem with spiders!"  
"I'll do it," Krista Siegfrids smiled, "Calm down already."  
The Finn walked into the room calmly, before walking right up to the spider and coaxing it to walk onto her hand.  
"Throw it at her, Krista," Emmelie laughed.  
"No! Don't do that!" Anouk yelled as the Finn opened the window and released the spider into the garden outside.  
"Don't be so mean Emmelie," Krista laughed as she shut the window.  
"You should've just stomped on it," Emmelie said.  
"Oh, heavens no," Krista said, "Gee Emmelie, what's gotten into you today? Well, anyway, there you go Anouk, the spider's all gone. So now you can stop all the shouting, ok?"  
"Wow, thanks Krista," Anouk smiled, "I don't know what to say. You're really brave and all."  
"Brave?!" Krista tried hard not to laugh, "It was only a little spider, Anouk. You could hardly see it!"  
"I really hate spiders," Anouk mumbled to herself.  
"Yeah, we gathered that," Krista laughed.  
With the spider gone, Anouk realised that she had kind of embarrassed herself in front of the other Eurovision participants.  
"Oh god," she said at last, "This is so embarrassing."  
"Don't worry about it," Krista replied, "After all, it's Eurovision, it's supposed to be embarrassing. Oh, and if you have any other problems with spiders and such, just call me."  
"Uh, will do Krista!" Anouk smiled, "And thanks again!"  
"Don't mention it," the Finn smirked.  
And with that, the entrants started to return to their own rooms. Anouk's spider problem was funny and all, but they really had to get back to unpacking their belongings, after all, they had a big day ahead of them tomorrow.  
  
\---  
  
Esma and Vlatko had been watching from the corridor.  
"I hate that," Esma muttered.  
"Hmm? Hate what?" Vlatko replied.  
"That! Just... whatever it was! The screaming over a little spider while the world is being taken over by a tyrannical dictatorship... why?"  
"Esma, they're just kids! They're just having fun, they're allowed to do that, aren't they? Making light of a bad situation?"  
"I guess," Esma sighed, "But they shouldn't be so... happy... nothing is happy, especially not here, in this cursed country. Not anymore."  
  
\---  
  
It was the next day. All the entrants sat on chairs outside of the stadium. They were ready, but the stadium wasn't ready to be performed on just yet. Björkman had been using it to practise his speeches yet again and so the organisers were going to be late in setting the staging for the Eurovision contestants. They knew that the contest was always going to be held in the shadow of his tyranny. Eurovision would always come second to whatever Björkman's aims were. Everything came second to Björkman.  
"Well," Nodiko turned to the two Bulgarians, "None of us can get any internet signal on our phones, ya know, because Björkman's had the internet censored. But Robin tells me that he thinks you two would be able to get on, ya know, because of Bulgaria's new friendship with Sweden."  
"Ah, really?" Stoyan smiled, "I must try that."  
He then got his phone out and proceeded to browse the internet on it. None of the others had been able to connect at all, but for the Bulgarians it worked faster than any connection they had ever seen before.  
"Huh? Well, you're right!" Stoyan said, hardly able to believe it.  
"Hahaha, look what you've done now Nodiko," Elitsa grinned, "We're supposed to be practising in a bit, not playing about on the net."  
"Just look at all this cool stuff," Stoyan said, ignoring her, "We can go on the internet... wait... that's weird... how did they know which phones are ours?"  
"Björkman knows everything," Robin whispered, "Never underestimate him."  
"Must be the Bulgarian SIM cards..." Despina guessed.  
"So it works on the Bulgarian phones..." Vlatko said, "Not even most Swedes can access the internet anymore around here..."  
"Oh..." Robin sighed, "I do miss the internet."  
The other entrants felt a pang of jealousy. While in Sweden they hadn't been able to connect to the internet at all. Why should the Bulgarians be allowed to go on the internet when they themselves weren't allowed to?  
"What the..." Stoyan said, interrupting the silence, "On the Eurovision section on Reddit people are claiming that there's going to be an attack on the Eurovision? And here... on Facebook... people saying the same thing... and Twitter too? Just what is this?"  
"Oh for goodness sake Stoyan!" Elitsa said, "This conspiracy stuff again? What a load of rubbish! I thought we'd agreed that you'd stop all that, remember?"  
Stoyan was quiet for a few minutes, looking for more news about this new 'conspiracy'.  
"Yes, but..." Stoyan finally said, "Some websites are claiming that there will be an attack on the first Eurovision semi final tomorrow, it's all very worrying."  
"Hmmm," Marco said, "Let me see."  
Marco took the phone from Stoyan.  
"An attack?!" Birgit said, "On the semi final? What?!"  
"Don't listen to them Birgit," said Dina, "They're just trying to make us worry, is all. So it'll put us off and they'll qualify instead of us."  
"Uh, Dina," Stoyan said, "We're in the second semi final, remember?"  
"No, he's right," said Marco, "Weird, I've never heard about this before. But apparently there's been a rumour for some time that there will be an attack on the first semi final. They say it will be by Christer Björkman himself, but that he will put the blame on the Free Sweden Alliance, his opposition. He will use the attack to blame the FSA... well, that's what this website says here, anyway. Here, here's your phone back. This is really bad, how come we didn't know about this?"  
"What?!" Birgit said, "Is there really going to be an attack?"  
"Of course not Birgit," Elitsa said, "Stoyan's spouting this conspiracy rubbish all the time, listen, I'm sure the first semi final will go fine!"  
The others decided to agree with her.  
  
\---  
  
But that didn't stop the participants of the first semi final from being entirely too nervous when sitting there in the green room the next day. The clock ticking down, seemed to be ticking towards some sort of doomsday. But, if news of this rumoured attack was widespread, then the audience didn't seem to notice, many of them giggling with joy. Only the hardcore Eurovision fans had dared to come to Sweden to see the contest, with casual viewers shying away from the dictatorship. After all, they could always go to ESC next year. Next year, when wouldn't be held in some sort of tinpot dictatorship. They hoped.  
At that moment a spotlight fell onto the stage, a figure then stepping out onto it from behind a curtain. It was the host of the contest, Petra Mede.  
"Hello!" Petra said, walking out onto the stage, "And welcome to the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013!"  
The crowd cheered and waved their flags as Petra beamed at them.  
"Tonight, we are celebrating nearly one year of rule by our glorious leader, Christer Björkman!" Petra said, and the audience clapped even louder at this, most likely because they felt they had to, rather than any connection they felt to the leader. Suddenly, a buzzing sound was heard, and some robots flew onto the stage with Petra and bowed towards the audience.  
"Our dear leader," Petra beamed, "We adore you!"  
And with that, none other than Christer Björkman himself stepped out onto the stage with Petra. The symbol of so much hate and destruction. The audience and the contestants all gasped in shock. How could he be here? What was he doing here?  
"Hahahaha," Christer merely laughed, "Why thank you Petra. Thank all of you! I have come to Malmö to watch the contest... I assure you that you're all in safe hands."  
  
\---  
  
"Ya see?" Natalia smiled, "Nothing bad can happen at the semi final... after all, Björkman himself is here! And everyone knows how cowardly he is!"  
"Unless he's plotting against us right now," Anouk said, looking down towards the floor, "He could have come to Malmö to make sure his plan would work..."  
"Nonsense!" Natalia replied, more serious now, "I can't believe we've let those two Bulgarians scare us! I mean honestly!"  
Trying to disregard it as a rumour, the Eurovision entrants looked on as Björkman pranced around the stage to the tune of his 1992 Eurovision song 'I morgon är en annan dag'. The audience cheered for the dancing dictator, as the entrants hoped that his appearance meant that the contest would be safe.  
  
\---  
  
At that moment Björkman left the stage, but not before watching his robots fly around the stage, almost taunting the democratic world with his advanced technology. It was just another reminder of this new world. Björkman's Empire and it's allies had this technology. No one else did. No one else could even come close to what he had achieved. And that was one thing that Björkman and his Empire would always have, his advantage over other countries. The semi-final itself went smoothly, everyone performed and now they were waiting in the green room for the results of the first semi-final.  
Petra Mede stepped out onto the stage again. She was holding envelopes with the names of each qualifying country.  
"And the first qualifier is... Moldova!"  
The audience cheered, but the reaction was muted, almost like they were too busy thinking about something else.  
"Lithuania!"  
Again, the audience cheered, but the reaction was the same.  
Ireland, Estonia, Belarus, Denmark, Russia, Belgium and Ukraine were the other qualifying countries. There was only one place left now for the grand final. Petra opened the final envelope.  
Anouk sat there glumly, looking down at her Dutch flag. In her mind she had already failed. This was always the way it was, year after year, the Dutch entrants sitting there in the green room, hoping to be the one contained in the last envelope... but it never was.  
"And the final space in the Eurovision grand final goes to..."  
At the moment, Petra opened the golden envelope and revealed a Dutch flag inside.  
"The Netherlands!!!"  
"What?!" Anouk yelled in disbelief as the audience cheered, "I did it?! I actually did it?! I did it! I qualified! This is amazing! This is incredible!"  
Anouk was happy, she had made the Netherlands proud by being their first qualifier in many years. But for those who hadn't qualified, it can be a bitter pill to swallow.  
"Pfftt... easy for you to say," Despina sighed, "This contest is rigged!"  
"Yeah, screw this dictatorship," Hannah said, "Björkman rigged this like he rigs everything else."  
"Now, that sounds like the talk of some sore losers back there," Aliona Moon grinned.  
Suddenly, the lights shut off, casting the arena in darkness.  
"What the?" they heard Petra's voice "Uh... sorry, everyone... there seems to be some sort of technical difficulty."  
In the green room, the lights had shut off too.  
"Technical difficulty?" Farid said, "How could this happen? I thought this was a powerful empire, supposed to be all controlling... supposed to be-"  
"No..." Robin interrupted him, "What if it's something else, the false flag attack that Marco and Stoyan were talking about earlier..."  
Then they realised... the fake attack...  
"We've gotta get out of here right now!" Zlata yelled, but... too late. A loud bang filled the arena, along with clouds of dust in the darkened room, even coming in to the green room.  
"What the hell?!" Dina coughed, "What is this?"  
The lights above flickered back into life, revealing... well... not much difference. In the far side of the stadium, where no one was sitting, there was now a large hole in the wall. But, no one had been hurt in the blast.  
"Well," Dina said, "At least Björkman had the decency not the injure anyone in his fake attack."  
Emmelie sighed. The words Björkman and decency didn't seem to belong in the same sentence.  
"Hmm... I think that's more to do with the integrity of the contest than any morals that Björkman may or may not have," Emmelie said, "After all, if people were killed during the Eurovision semi final do you think that they would just let it continue?"  
"It didn't stop the Olympic Games," Moran said.  
"That's different... Eurovision's different..." Emmelie said, before adding, "I hope."  
The audience, the entrants, everyone scrambled out of the arena. Any sense of order was gone, only chaos remained.  
  
\---  
  
It took a lot of work convincing the Eurovision entrants that they should stay at the contest, or rather, a lot of threats from Christer Björkman and his robots. Countries from across Europe called for Eurovision 2013 to be cancelled. Björkman paid no attention to it. The Eurovision Song Contest was going to go on, no matter what. That was just how things were in Björkman's Empire. It was Björkman's way, no matter what.  
  
\---  
  
It was the night of the second Eurovision semi-final. All the entrants were there again, even those who had been in the first semi-final. It seemed Björkman liked to keep all of the Eurovision entrants in one place, that way it was easier to keep an eye on them. They were a little worried, especially after what had happened in the first semi-final. Björkman, predictably, had used the attack to blame the Free Sweden Alliance and order even more surveillance against the ordinary citizens of Sweden. They hoped that nothing like that would happen again during this semi. The performances themselves went by without incident, and now they were all sitting in the green room, awating the results.  
The qualifiers of the second semi-final had been read out by Petra. All except for one. There was one final spot left in the Eurovision final. Here they were again, the final envelope. They just hoped that nothing would happen like it did in the first semi-final. Petra opened the envelope.  
"Who could it be?" Vlatko said, unsure whether he wanted to qualify or not.  
"Bulgariaaaaaaa!!!" Elitsa yelled, frantically waved her Bulgarian flag as Stoyan looked down to the floor and hoped against hope that they had made it. After all, Björkman's Empire and Bulgaria were such good allies, surely he'd let them qualify? Surely?  
"Greece!" Petra yelled, as the Greek band jumped up in excitement.  
"Finally!" Ilias grinned, "We did it!"  
"What?!" Elitsa said, "Greece? No!!!"  
"People don't vote for cowards," Esma said as she leaned over to the Bulgarians.  
"And that's why you didn't qualify, right?" Stoyan snapped.  
"We didn't qualify because we stood up to this putrid regime, so Björkman rigged it against us," Esma said, "Which is more than can be said for you two bootlickers."  
"That's enough Esma," Vlatko said, "We don't need this. Not here, not now. Björkman is destroying any chance at world peace and here we are, fighting each other. Stop. Please."  
Silence descended in the green room. Vlatko was right. This just wasn't the time, or the place. At a time when Björkman was trying to destroy everything, they were fighting amongst themselves instead of fighting against his regime. Why did they need Björkman to tear the world apart when they were pretty good at doing it themselves?  
The Eurovision entrants agreed that they would do better. No more fighting. Right now what they needed was a show of unity.  
  
\---  
  
It was the day after the second semi-final. Luckily, there had been no events like there had during the first semi. The French entrant, Amandine Bourgeois, was walking with Robin Stjernberg. Elitsa and Stoyan had been browsing the internet and had told the other Eurovision contestants all about various rumours that were going around. Rumours had been circulating that Christer Björkman was going to rig the contest for a Swedish victory, just like when he had gate-crashed Baku 2012 and forced Loreen to win. Robin certainly thought a Swedish victory was likely. He didn't like Björkman or the Eurovision at all, but he definitely thought that he was going to win Eurovision.  
"So," Amandine said, as she and Robin walked down the corridor of the hotel, "I hear that you think you're going to win, is that true?"  
"Well... everyone's got to vote for us... haven't they?" Robin said, "I mean..."  
"Oh come on," Amandine rolled her eyes, "You're from the most hated country in the world... you can't complain about possibly not winning."  
"First of all I didn't complain... wait... most hated..." Robin couldn't even bring himself to finish that sentence. The most hated country in the world. It wasn't the Sweden he had once known, the Sweden he knew was a peaceful, democratic nation, with easygoing people... but this... Björkman's Empire...  
"Björkman's Empire isn't Sweden..." Robin said finally.  
"Well what is it then?" Amandine replied.  
"It's... it's uh... something else..."  
"It has the same borders as Sweden...it has the same people as Sweden..." Amandine said, "So, it must be Sweden."  
Robin walked away from her but Amandine followed.  
"You can't just walk away from the truth," the French woman began, but then they heard voices from the other end of the corridor. Hushed whispered, talking about something that sounded almost secretive.  
"Why would he show up now?" they heard Aliona's voice.  
"Why not?" they heard Pasha Parfeny reply, "Lots of people have come back from last year's Eurovision, me and Valentina for example."  
"Indeed!" Valentina said, "So, will it be easy?"  
The two of them got closer. All of the other Eurovision entrants were standing there.  
"Oh! Terribly sorry Amandine, Robin!" Bonnie said, "I knew I had forgot someone! My apologies!"  
"That's uh... ok..." replied a man. It was last year's British entrant, Engelbert Humperdinck. It seemed the British were planning something. It made sense, Engelbert had been very annoyed at the events during Baku 2012. He wanted to help take down Björkman's Empire once and for all.  
"Engelbert here's got a plan," Bonnie smiled, "But I'll let him explain it."  
"Don't worry," Pasha said, "It's really good. We can change the world for the better... if we want to."  
"Ah, yes, now... where was I... and that's the reason I'm here," Engelbert said, "It's important. To do with the regime."  
"There's something important that we'll be doing," Bonnie grinned, "Bringing back democracy to Sweden... back to the whole world!"  
"Democracy isn't real anymore," Ryan Dolan said, "It's all fake. Björkman's Empire has shown us all that. Democracy is fragile and can be easily destroyed."  
"Nope," Bonnie smiled, "It's real enough... it's just that we can't practice it while Björkman is at large threatening the safety of the world. There'll be plenty of time for that once the revolution is complete and the world is at peace."  
"Democracy is real and we can have it again," Engelbert said, "History has taught us that. And just because it's fragile, doesn't mean that it's not worth preserving. It just makes it even more worthwhile to fight for."  
"Better to save this sort of nonsense for tomorrow," Stoyan said, "On the night of the Eurovision final..."  
"You're only saying that because you didn't qualify," Bonnie snapped.  
"We're saying it because we want no part in this," Elitsa said, "Björkman's gonna have you all shot for this."  
"Well we're not saying that-" Stoyan began, "But in this new world we've got to pick our battles very carefully. Against Björkman's Empire no one wins."  
"See?!" Esma said, "Look at this attitude they've got! Cowardly! This is exactly how the Nazis got away with so much! No one stood up to them! We need to stand up now if we are to save the world from this oppressive ruler!"  
"Thank you Esma. And I'd rather get this started sooner, rather than later," Engelbert said, "Today would be a good day to take down Björkman's Empire once and for all."  
"Any day would be a good day to take down this dictatorship," Sophie said.  
"Indeed. I already see that the Bulgarians want no part in taking down the murderous tyranny that is the Björkman Regime," Engelbert continued, "I do hope Elitsa and Stoyan remember that when this war is over between democracy and tyranny, people will want revenge on the Quislings that made the world this way in the first place."  
"R-Revenge?!" Stoyan repeated.  
"You heard me," Engelbert snapped, "Cowards, the lot of you. Now be quiet Bulgarians, I need no further input from you. Ok, so let's talk through this, I've been in contact with the Swedish resistance. The Free Swedish Army, also known as the Free Sweden Alliance, were framed for the attack which they did not commit, but that's another story. As we are incredibly close to where Björkman is in the palace I think their new invention may be able to help us. By pretending to be with Bonnie's Eurovision team I have managed to get into Sweden, so now I can assist you in this plan."  
"Wait so, you're not really on her Eurovision team?" Emmelie asked.  
"Of course not," Engelbert laughed, "Well, not really. We're good friends who are both in the resistance, I pretended I had worked on the Eurovision entry to get a pass from Björkman into Malmö. Now that I'm here though, we can attack the regime directly, using Eurovision as a base."  
"I... don't know about this..." Valentina said.  
"Don't worry," Engelbert smiled, "I'll need minimal input from most of you, and when the machine is activated, there will be no risk of anything bad happening to us anyway."  
"Machine?" Andrius asked, puzzled.  
"Ah, yes. So, this something we've been working on for sometime," Engelbert continued, "There's a machine we've made that, once we steal the special component from Björkman, will bring peace to the world, a true peace, one which we have never known before."  
"That's great!" Anouk smiled, "And what is the component?"  
"Well, it's not so much a component," Engelbert said, "There's a piece of paper that Björkman has... somewhere in his office, I'll assume. It looks like this."  
Engelbert brought out a blank piece of yellow paper embroided with the Björkman's Empire symbol, a triangle inside a circle.  
"Now," he continued, "This paper will have on it the code for the deactivation of Björkman's killer robots. Now then, once we have this code, we can shut down all of these robots... and put and end to this madness once and for all."  
"Wait. All of them?!" Eyþór asked.  
"Of course," Engelbert said, "It's the only sure way to put a stop to his tyranny."  
"But," Elitsa said, "That means all the robots will shut down, including the good ones in Iceland and... Eyþór..."  
"What?! We can't do that!" Stoyan said, "It's not fair!  
Eyþór looked down at his feet. Did it really have to come to this? But if it didn't, then Björkman would be free to continue his reign of terror. Eyþór sighed.  
"It's ok, I understand," Eyþór said, "You have to do it. You must do it. The world will never be safe while Björkman's Empire still exists."  
"No!" Bonnie said, "There must be another way! You can't do this!"  
"Trust me," Engelbert said, "If there was a way to keep the good robots in Iceland, then we'd do it. But there isn't. So we can't."  
"It's ok," Eyþór said, "We need to get rid of him, no matter what the cost. Björkman has literally destroyed Iceland, we'll be glad to have the Empire taken down, even if we won't be around to see it."  
"Don't bother," Stoyan smiled, "We don't need to do this. Björkman's Empire isn't so bad."  
"Yeah," Elitsa grinned, "It's really quite amazing once you give it a chance!"  
"Exactly!" Stoyan said, "We don't have to do anything bad, and we don't have to shut down Eyþór!"  
"The Empire has done so many good things," Elitsa continued.  
"What good things?! Can you two just shut up for a moment?!" Eyþór yelled, "I for once am sick of your sycophantic crawling to Christer Björkman. I know Bulgaria and Sweden have an alliance, but be quiet! You clearly don't know what you're talking about when you talk about Björkman's Empire! I say we do it. Deactivate all of the robots."  
"What? You can't be serious-" Stoyan began.  
"He is serious, it is necessary," Engelbert said, getting annoyed, "Now then, I need someone who can go into Björkman's office and get the piece of paper. It will probably be somewhere prominent and easily located, I however cannot guarantee it. So, is anyone here willing to go?"  
"You can count us out," Elitsa said.  
"Pfft... I wasn't expecting either of you two," Engelbert said, "No, we need someone with real courage to go and do this for the benefit of all humanity."  
"I'd go," Eyþór said, "But I think as a robot I'd be detected."  
"Ah, yes," Engelbert said, "My theory is that Björkman has a device for detecting when robots are nearby."  
"Yes, and robots can detect other robots too. After the attack on Iceland the other robots kept on finding us," Eyþór said.  
"Then you cannot go," Engelbert said, "Surely someone else is willing?"  
The Eurovision entrants were silent. Of course no one wanted to risk themselves in the battle against Björkman's Empire. This would be a very dangerous mission if caught.  
"What about you, if you're so brave," Stoyan said, rolling his eyes.  
"Well, uh, well," Engelbert said, "I uh... am of course needed, for my expertise! If anything were to happen to me then the plan would surely fail!"  
"Yeah yeah, whatever," Elitsa said.  
"I'm not sure this is a good idea," Marco said.  
"It's a great idea," Engelbert said, "We just need someone who will do this."  
Silence fell across the room again. Anouk looked around her. She was one of the few people there who had personally seen the bad things that Björkman could do.  
"You know what, I'll go," Anouk said, "It's not like I'm any use around here anyway."  
"Don't say that," Robin said, "Look, I'll go."  
"No," Anouk said, "My decision is final, I'm going to go."  
"Well then," Vlatko said, "Good luck Anouk, we know you can do it."  
"What, are we just going to sit here and let for go?" Bonnie said, "I'm sorry, we can't let her do that."  
"Someone has to," Marco said, "And Anouk wants to, what's the problem?"  
"She's just a young girl," Bonnie said, "She hasn't lived, she hasn't experienced life, not properly, I'll go in her place."  
"Oh Bonnie, that's very kind if you and all," Anouk said, "But Marco's right, I want to do this. I need payback, for what Björkman did to me. I'm more than just his sick genetic experiment. And I'm going to prove it. I'll have time during the voting... we'll do it then."  
"We can't let you do this!" Stoyan said, "Stop all this nonsense talk at once!"  
"We will do it," Anouk said, "We can and we will."  
"You can't do it," Elitsa smiled suddenly, she'd just had one of those ideas again, "If you do, we'll tell Björkman."  
The other entrants were taken aback by this.  
"You wouldn't dare!" Bonnie said.  
"Try me," Elitsa grinned.  
"E-Elisa... maybe now is not the time for this," Stoyan whispered.  
At which point the Icelandic robot rolled up his sleeve and revealed his laser gun, now fully repaired by the greatest scientists in Iceland.  
"He's right Elitsa, now isn't the time," Eyþór yelled, the usually calm Icelandic now in a complete and utter rage, "I have watched my people get slaughtered by that despot, and you dare to defend him? I don't want to but I am prepared to shoot the both of you if you stand in the way of the revolution."  
The two Bulgarians backed down at this.  
"O-of course we weren't defending him," Stoyan said, "We won't bother you, we promise."  
"Good," Eyþór replied, "You two better make sure it stays that way. Or else."  
Silence filled the room. No one quite knew what to say. Nobody was really handling this well.  
"I have a question," Vlatko spoke up, "Why should it be our responsibility to take out Björkman? We are just Eurovision contestants, after all. It's not our job, and it shouldn't have to be."  
"Lozano..." Esma said, and Vlatko looked up, usually Esma didn't call him by that nickname, "Stop... he still has his gun out, stop."  
"Wait wait wait," Vlatko said, "I didn't mean... I didn't..."  
Eyþór stopped. Of course they were scared of him, he was one of Björkman's robots, after all. He hadn't meant to scare them like that, that wasn't his intention. He looked over at the two Bulgarians, Elitsa and Stoyan, who looked terrified of him. The same thing could be said for the Macedonians. Eyþór looked down at his feet, and then to the gun he was holding. This wasn't what he wanted. Eyþór wasn't a violent person, he didn't want to hurt anyone. Björkman had done this to him. His regime had done this to him.  
"Oh, don't worry," Eyþór put his gun away, "You two have nothing to fear from me. Mr. Lozanoski, you are correct of course, it should not be our responsiblity. But unfortunately for us, it is. If we don't do this now, who else is going to do this? No one."  
Eyþór looked out of the window. The sky was thick with smog, more robots were being created. This was the reality of Sweden now.  
"And I understand your reluctance Vlatko, I really do," Eyþór continued, "Björkman has threatened Macedonia once before, but unless he is stopped now, he will do it again. And next time he might make good on his threat."  
Vlatko sighed. Björkman had threatened Macedonia with war when he didn't like their first candidate for a Eurovision entry, "Imperija." He even went as far as kidnapping Kaliopi, their 2012 entrant, but luckily they managed to get her back. It proved one thing to the people of Macedonia, that attacking Björkman doesn't get anyone anywhere. Christer Björkman was incredibly unpopular there, but so was the resistance movement. Vlatko didn't really want to get involved with taking down Björkman's Empire himself, but if other people were going to do it, then he wasn't going to stand in their way. Many others in the room felt the same way as him.  
"Alright, so we are all agreed?" Engelbert said, "Good. The plan takes place during the Eurovision final."  
  
\---  
  
It was the day of the Eurovision final, and all of the participants of the contest were waiting in the green room.  
Anouk was ready. The plan was this, when Petra announced the voting would start, she would slip out of the green room, and find Björkman's personal room. It didn't matter long she took, as the Eurovision final was going to be a lot longer than it had ever been before. A two hour presentation on Björkman and his empire was going to be played during the voting. So Anouk could take as long as she needed to.  
The time whizzed by, songs were performed, Petra made jokes, audience cheering, flag waving. All under the banner of Björkman's Empire. Anouk was waiting for the moment. And then Petra said the words that Anouk had been waiting for.  
"Europe!" Petra smiled, "Start voting... now!"  
This was it, it was time. Anouk slipped out of the green room. Björkman's room was easy enough to find, for it had a huge golden door which read 'Emperor Björkman' in silver writing. She opened the door a little, and discovered that there was no one inside. She quietly stepped into the room. No robots here, nor any sign of them. She was relieved, this was going to be a lot easier than she thought. In front of her, a simple wooden table.  
She looked down and saw a yellow piece of paper, on it the triangle inside the circle that was the symbol of Björkman's Empire. She picked it up, looking at it carefully. This was definitely it. There was some sort of code on it. Anouk didn't understand it herself, but she assumed Engelbert would.  
"This must be it then," she whispered to herself, tucking it into her pocket.  
"Oh dear, look what we have here," a robotic voice came from behind her. She spun around to find Jon Ola Sand staring at her.  
"Digging through my master's things, are you?"  
"N-no!" Anouk replied.  
"Looks like you are to me. Stupid girl."  
The robot looked down at Anouk, her pink feathers showing under her sleeves. He looked down at her feathers in disgust. So she was one of Björkman's genetic experiments.  
"Ah, one if the failed experiments, that explains a lot," Jon replied, "I thought Björkman had you all killed. He should have done, you're nothing compared to us."  
"No... I..." Anouk tried to run but the robot grabbed her with it's metallic arms.  
"Let go of me!!!"  
The robot just laughed.  
"It's funnier when they try to escape," he laughed, "Go on little birdie, go on. Try and fly away!"  
Anouk struggled and tried to free herself but the robot held on tight.  
"Aw, little birdie can't escape, what a shame," the robot roared with laughter, obviously getting some sort of sick pleasure from this.  
A bright light filled the room as Jon blasted his cannon at Anouk, sending the Dutch girl flying across the floor and knocking her into the wall. And still she struggled to get up. She wouldn't let herself be defeated. Not by him. She had to be strong, she had to prove herself. This tyranny would only end if people like her stood up to people like Björkman. She couldn't just sit by and do nothing, she had to stop this, stop this tyranny, stop this empire, stop all of it. Jon Ola Sand only saw a weak, pitiful creature before him, but she knew she was strong... she knew she could do this. The robot laughed again as he towered over Anouk.  
"Oh dear, can't even stand one blast from us, can you? You're weak. Dumb experiment. And then to rifle through his things like you don't remember who gave you life? Honestly, you're as bad as the defectors are."  
'He... didn't... give me life," Anouk said, "I was happy... before... we all were... before he came... and turned me into this freak!"  
She struggled to stand up and unsteadily walked back to the green room. The robot just laughed as Anouk got away, not realising she had slipped the important piece of paper, hidden it inside her pocket. She took it out as she slowly went through the corridor and back into the green room.  
"Anouk!" Natalia screamed as Anouk stumbled back into the green room. It was clear she had been shot. The contestants all gathered around her. They were ashamed of themselves, Anouk had been the only one brave enough to fetch the paper, now she was paying the price. But she wasn't upset, she smiled at them, even as she struggled to stand upright.  
"Anouk! What's happened?!" Krista yelled, running over to her.  
"I... I got it," Anouk said as she fell to the floor, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a piece of paper, thrusting it into Engelbert's hand.  
"It'll take a few hours to process this," Engelbert said, "I'll go back to the hotel and start right away. I'm sorry Anouk, we shouldn't have let this happen."  
"Will I be ok...?" Anouk said, unsure if she wanted to know the answer.  
"Hey," Nodi said, trying to cheer her up, "I was shot by a robot too and I survived it!"  
"Thanks... Nodiko..." Anouk said, "I hope... I can be as lucky as you were...."  
"Of course you will," Nodi smiled, "You're a fighter, Anouk, and we know you'll pull through this. We know you can do it!"  
"She is going to be alright, isn't she?" Stoyan asked.  
"Of course she will!" Engelbert smiled, unsure whether it would be polite to just leave already, "You'll be right as rain in no time!"  
"Thanks Engelbert," Anouk smiled, "It sure means a lot coming from you."  
"Engelbert, can I have a word please," Bonnie whispered, "In private."  
And with that Bonnie took Engelbert outside the green room.  
"What is it Bonnie?"  
"Why don't you tell her the truth Engelbert?" Bonnie whispered so that they wouldn't be heard by the others in the green room, "She's gonna die and you know it, there's no way she can stand a hit from one of those things. No one can."  
"Nodiko did," Engelbert muttered.  
"That was a special case, she's as good as dead, you know it, and I know it. Don't give her false hope Engelbert, tell her the truth already."  
"Bonnie," Engelbert said, "Hasn't the poor girl been through enough already? Don't make things even worse. There's nothing we can do to help her. Look, I really must go. Tell her she'll be fine. Do it Bonnie, you know it's the right thing to do."  
And with that Bonnie returned to the green room.  
"Anouk..." she said.  
"Yes?" Anouk said, trying to sit up on her chair.  
"Engelbert says you're definitely gonna be fine!" Bonnie beamed, but it was a false smile. Anouk didn't seem to notice.  
"That's great! I'm so happy," Anouk smiled, "You people are truly wonderful, I knew you wouldn't let anything bad happen to me..."  
"Of course we wouldn't," Valentina said, "You're our little star!"  
"Thank you... I'm so happy... we qualified for the first time in eight years... it's... so good... to make the Netherlands proud..."  
"Hang in there Anouk," Birgit said, "You can make it, we can do this!"  
"And when we win, when we take him down," Anouk smiled, "You're all invited to the Netherlands and we can have a big party! I felt really bad, I didn't come to the Eurovision in Concert... I didn't get a chance earlier to meet all you wonderful people..."  
"Hey, hey," Vlatko said, "That was such a long time ago, that doesn't matter now... what matters now is that you're here, with us!"  
"Thank you Vlatko, you are too kind. I don't deserve your kindness, from any of you."  
"Why do you say that?" Natalia asked, "You're one if the kindest people I've ever met in my whole life."  
"You... really mean that?"  
"Of course I do," Natalia smiled, "You're so kind, and brave too. I hope that I'll be as brave as you one day."  
"So... you'll all come, won't you...?" Anouk asked, "To my party?"  
"Of... of course we will," Bonnie said, trying to hold back the tears.  
"Oh Bonnie, we'll have such fun, we're going to be the best of friends. It will be so wonderful... to have all of you there... my friends..."  
Anouk fell out of her chair and sprawled across the floor.  
"Everything's going... dark..." she said, "What's happening..."  
"Engelbert said she was going to be fine," Nodi said, "What's happening?"  
"We need to get her to a hospital, quick!" Marco yelled, "Something's wrong!"  
"Why do you guys worry about me," Anouk whispered, "I am not important, I am a nothing, a no-one..."  
"Don't you dare say that," Vlatko said, "Don't you give up on us Anouk, you're gonna pull through this, you hear me?"  
"I... hear you..." came the mumbled reply from the Dutch entrant.  
"There, you're be alright," Vlatko said, "You stay with us, ok?"  
"I'll try... Vlatko..." Anouk said, "Engelbert said... I'll be fine... so..."  
"It's ok," Despina said, "It's ok, you're going to be ok."  
"She'll be fine," Nodiko smiled, "Those robots aren't so tough."  
A few minutes passed, the entrants growing increasingly concerned for Anouk. Bonnie had assured her that she was going to be fine, but Anouk was starting to get very worried, something was wrong.  
"It's cold... what's happening... why..." Anouk tried to get up again but couldn't.  
"I'm so sorry, Anouk," Bonnie whispered.  
"S...sorry?! You... you promised I'd be fine..." Anouk cried as realisation set in, "You promised!"  
"Bonnie!" Nodi said, "You said she was going to be fine!"  
"You lied to me! You lied!" Anouk yelled, and that was the final thing she said as she fell to the floor.  
"Anouk!!!" Roberto yelled, but it was no use.  
"Leave her, there's nothing we can do," Bonnie said, "It was always going to be this way."  
"You knew this was going to happen all along?!" Amandine yelled.  
"It was always going to happen," Bonnie admitted, "There was nothing we could have done for her..."  
"You evil woman..." Elitsa hissed, at which Bonnie simply rolled her eyes, "Why did you make us think that-"  
"It was hope, Elitsa, I gave her hope in her final moments," Bonnie said, "Giving hope is not evil... hope never dies... maybe... maybe it was however, the wrong decision... maybe I should have told her..."  
"You're damn right you should have!" Vlatko yelled, seething with anger, "Why did this have to happen? Why Anouk?!"  
"There was no other way that could have ended..." Bonnie said.  
"Why?!" yelled Vlatko, "Why is everything so unfair?!"  
Silence descended on the room. Was this a victory for democracy? Because it sure didn't feel like one.  
"We should go back to the hotel..." Bonnie said finally, looking down towards the floor.  
"Go back to the hotel?!" Stoyan yelled, "Excuse me?! Someone's just died here, in case you haven't been paying attention. Have some respect."  
"I do realise," Bonnie said, "But Anouk sacraficed herself so that we could put an end to this tyranny. I know you're all upset but we have to do something. A lot more good people will die if we allow Björkman's Empire to continue. The plan must continue... no matter our losses...""  
"And to be fair," Cezar added, "I don't think Bonnie should be taking lessons in 'respect' from someone still wearing the uniform of the Björkman regime."  
The two Bulgarians shifted uneasily in their seats. They were of course still wearing the yellow uniform of Björkman's Empire, and had defended the regime many times. But here was the result of Björkman's Empire. This was the reality of a tyrannical dictatorship, that innocent people would die because of one despotic leader.  
  
\---  
  
When the other contestants arrived back at the hotel, they found Engelbert working hard on his device, trying to prepare it with the activation code.  
"Anouk..." Natalia began.  
"I know..." was all Engelbert said. It was all that needed to be said.  
"So you both knew..." Vlatko growled.  
"It was the only way..." Engelbert said, "We're sorry."  
"No you're not!" Natalia yelled, "None of you are! This is all your fault! Why did we ever listen to you?!"  
"Natalia," Engelbert said sternly, "What you have just witnessed was sure to have been distressing so I am prepared to be civil with you. There is only one man who is to blame for what happened to Anouk. And his name is Christer Björkman. Now, maybe we should have done more to protect her... but she was brave. She died protecting the revolution, protecting democracy, and, wherever she is now, I'm sure she is proud of us."  
A little while later, the device beeped. Engelbert stopped.  
"Is the device ready?" Emmelie asked.  
"Yes," Engelbert said, before adding, with less certainty, "I think so."  
"Well, then that will have to be good enough," Bonnie said.  
"We should go outside..." Engelbert said, "The signal will be stronger... the device will work better outside."  
Some of them were quite confused about how this device could possibly work, and were unsure about whether it would work at all... but they said nothing and simply followed the Brit outside. And there they were, in the dark city outside. Looking around, there was no one outside except for them. It seemed that the one vibrant Swedish city was now a dystopian ghost town, and they all knew the reason. Of course, Björkman's official orders stated that all Swedish citizens had to remain inside and watch the Eurovision Song Contest. It was Melodifestivalen all over again. This had to stop. They hoped that this machine would work. If it didn't, then everything had been for nothing.  
At that moment, the Eurovision entrants looked up to the dark night sky and saw some strange shapes hovering in the distance. They were too small to make out exactly what they were, but they could hear the distant buzzing sound that they knew all too well.  
"I think those are robots..." Andrius said, "We should get out of here."  
"They are," Eyþór said, "But don't worry, they haven't seen us. I would be able to sense it if they'd saw us."  
"We should turn the device on now then before they see us," said Aliona, casting a look over to Engelbert and Bonnie, "Are we all ready?"  
Bonnie was now holding the device. For all the complicated talk Engelbert would give on how it functioned, it was simply a grey box with a blue button on top. Looked simple enough. Whether she could push the button was another matter.  
"Do it, Bonnie," Engelbert smiled.  
Bonnie Tyler looked down at the button in her hand. Could she really do this?  
"I'm so sorry, I can't do it," Bonnie said, looking across at the Icelandic robot standing beside her. How could she kill the good with the bad? It wasn't fair. Did the end really justify the means?  
And with that, Eyþór snatched the button out of her hand.  
"You can't do it," the Icelandic replied, "But I can..."  
And with that he pressed the button, signalling the end of Björkman's Empire, but also the end of the Icelandic robot community.  
"Eyþór no!" Birgit yelled.  
"He had to do it," Robin said, "For the good of all of us."  
"Exactly," Eyþór smiled, "It... it was important... for the good for Iceland. Otherwise Anouk gave her life for nothing... and I can't allow that. Don't feel bad for me, because I don't feel bad about it. The deactivation will begin soon... but don't be sad for me... because I am happy."  
"Oh Eyþór why!" Birgit wailed.  
  
\---  
  
Björkman was sitting in his office, Jon Ola Sand, his most trusted robot, sitting beside him, Suddenly, Jon fell to the floor.  
"Jon?" Björkman asked, "What's wrong?!"  
"Arrrgh... someone's activated a kill switch," Jon said.  
"What, no! It's impossible!" Björkman yelled, "Only I can do that! How could this happen?!"  
"I don't know! You've got to escape Sweden now, go Christer," Jon said, "Go! Go and save yourself."  
"No!" Björkman said defiantly, "I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you!"  
"I'll... try my best... Christer..." Jon struggled to stand up.  
"It won't end like this. I give the Last Order," Björkman spoke into a microphone on the desk.  
"Last... Order... are you sure?"  
"Yes, I am sure. They won't get away with this Jon, I won't let them destroy what we have."  
  
\---  
  
The Last Order. If anything were to go wrong during the Eurovision, he had told all of the robots who were guarding the stadium that they were to fly into the crowd. And self-destruct.  
The audience cheered and waved flags for their countries, eagerly anticipating the results of this year's Eurovision Song Contest. They had come to Sweden, despite the regime, to enjoy a song contest that they loved. Now they would pay the price. The robots who were guarding the doors began to fly into the crowd as Petra looked on, shocked.  
"Excuse me?!" Petra said into the microphone, "What is happening?!"  
She didn't know about the Last Order. Neither did the audience as they were puzzled at the robots coming close to them. Some of them quite enjoyed having a robot close to them, getting to see what they looked like up close and taking pictures with their iphones. Until the first one exploded. A deafening boom shattered the windows as Petra dived onto the floor of the stage. More robots blew themselves up as Petra looked on, horrified. Screams and smoke filled the air as the surviving fans rushed to escape the stadium. Only when the smoke settled was the full extent of the devastation clear.  
  
\---  
  
"The hell is happening out there?!" Emmelie yelled as the entrants heard the explosions from outside the hotel.  
"I don't know..." Robin said, "Something bad..."  
"I can see it... I can see what's happening there!" Eyþór yelled, "He's gave a terrible order! He's killing all of them!"  
"Shhh, shhh," Birgit said, comforting the robot in his deactivation, "We'll deal with this... whatever it is."  
"No we bloody won't," Stoyan said, "There's nothing we can do about this. It's none of our business."  
"Yeah," Elitsa added, "If you guys wanna go out there and get shot then it's up to you."  
"Cowards! You guys stay with Eyþór, I'm going to the stadium," Emmelie hissed as she swung open the door and walked out of the room. She was going to see exactly what the problem was. Malmö Arena wasn't that far from the hotel, and she soon got there. Walking through an open back door, she wondered why no robots were there guarding it as usual. Was deactivation really that fast?  
She opened the door cautiously and stepped out onto the stage. She immediately regretted it. The robots had flown out into the audience and blown themselves up, killing many innocent Eurovision fans. This was what the Swedish dictator had ordered, this was what the reality of Björkman's Empire meant.  
"Oh my god, oh my god," Petra kept repeating as she looked on at the horror in front of her.  
"NO!" Emmelie yelled, "NO NO NO!"  
"Emmelie!" Petra yelled, shocked, "The robots... they... how could Christer do this?"  
  
\---  
  
Meanwhile, the robots who weren't part of the Last Order began to fall to the ground, deactivated.  
Eyþór fell to the ground too, as the Eurovision entrants gathered around him.  
"It's starting..." he said, "The deactivation is starting, I can feel it..."  
"Eyþór!" Birgit yelled, "Hold on! Guys, there must be something we can do!"  
"No, there is nothing that can be done for him," Robin said sadly, "I'm so sorry."  
"Stay... with me..." Eyþór said, "Don't... go... yet..."  
"We're not going to leave you, don't worry," Birgit whispered, holding the robot close to her.  
The Icelandic robot didn't say another word. It was over. The robots were no more. They should have been happy, but they weren't. Their Icelandic friend was now gone too, and there were many good robots in Iceland who were now also deactivated. It seemed that there could never be a truly happy ending, where evil is entirely vanquished and good entirely saved. These decisions were the hardest they had ever had to make.  
"Eyþór..." Birgit said.  
"So that's it," Robin said, "It's over..."  
"Why did we have to get rid of the good, to get rid of the bad?" Amandine whispered, "Everything is so unfair."  
"Welcome to Sweden," Robin sighed.  
At that moment, Emmelie ran back into the room in horror. The robots might be finally gone, but Björkman had made sure that there was one final act of devastation before the end.  
"Oh my god, oh my god!" Emmelie was yelling as she ran back inside the hotel room.  
"Emmelie, calm down!" Ryan said, running over to her, "Are you alright? You're shaking, good heavens!"  
"There's been a mass murder!" Emmelie screamed, trying to find the right words, "Björkman ordered his robots to self-destruct in the middle of the crowd! He's attacked the audience oh god, oh my god-"  
"What?!" Bonnie yelled, shocked. They knew Björkman was low... but this took it to another level altogether. Even they were surprised at this, even after everything else Björkman had done.  
  
\---  
  
Meanwhile, Björkman watched in horror as Jon Ola Sand crashed to the ground, deactivated. He looked out of the window and saw all his robots that were once flying in the sky now crashing to the ground. The source of his power, falling all around him, crashing, destroyed. His robots lying on the floor motionless, Christer Björkman saw that his empire was crumbling before him. He had no power over anyone without his menacing machines.  
But there was one final thing he could do before his tyranny came to an end. One final act of revenge. Even worse than the Last Order. Björkman pressed a red button on his desk. It was the signal for the Swedish air force to prepare to use their nuclear weaponry. It was the beginning of the nuclear attack that the whole world had feared. He was angry enough about the deaths of his robots to risk a nuclear winter. It was only a matter of time before the whole world plunged into a nuclear war.  
  
\---  
  
Meanwhile, the Eurovision entrants were roaming the corridors of the Malmö Arena, robots lying about everywhere, deactivated. It seemed that the peace they had longed for was finally going to become a reality, even if many innocent people had lost their lives in the fight for democracy. Soon they came across a robot that had fell to the floor, next to a box full of guns.  
"It must have been delivering guns to Björkman," Roberto said, "Here, there's a ton of guns here, if we all took one then we'd easily defeat Björkman."  
Some of them were a little apprehensive about the thought of holding weapons and even worse, the possibility of using them, but the protection they offered was undeniable.  
"We'd better return to the green room with them," Bonnie said.  
Emmelie shuddered at the thought of having to see the scene of the Last Order yet again.  
"We'll go the other way Emmelie," Bonnie said, "Through the side door. You won't have to see it again."  
  
\---  
  
But scenes of chaos and destruction would be seen again. Because Björkman wasn't quite finished yet.  
The city of London was at peace. Children were kicking footballs to each other in the park, birds tweeting in the sky. Little squirrels jumped from the trees. All in all, it was a wonderful place to be, and although the idea of nuclear war constantly hung over the adults heads, the children were carefree, and didn't waste any time worrying about a country so far away from the UK. What could a tiny country like Sweden do to them anyway?  
Meanwhile, overhead, engines roared. People pointed up at the strange planes that now dotted the London skyline and cast darkness upon the city. Piloted by the last remaining Swedes in the army who were loyal to Björkman's regime, they soon started to rain death upon the inhabitants of the British capital. They had seen the nuclear attack on Iceland on the TV, but had never expected Sweden to turn on them too. A nuclear missile smashed into Big Ben, causing the clock tower to crumble and collapse onto the people on the streets below, as people dived into the Thames to get away from the fire. Buckingham Palace glowed red and burned down to the ground. The Millennium Dome crumbled and collapsed, the skyline that was once a pale pastel blue now a deep fiery red. Screams filled the air as people tried to run to safety and find their loved ones. Grey smoke and red fire was everywhere. In just a few minutes the city of London had been completely destroyed. The nation had truly been broken.  
  
\---  
  
Meanwhile the remaining entrants of the Eurovision were watching the TV, hoping to see some news, any news about the robots being switched off, Emmelie still thinking about what she had seen earlier. The mood was sad as they all sat there in the green room, some looking across at the empty seats that had been reserved for the Netherlands and Iceland, the small Dutch and Icelandic flags folded small enough to fit on the tables in front of them. They sat there, waiting for any sign on the television that they had definitely won, that they had really done it, because they didn't really believe it themselves. But it wasn't over. Not yet. Things were about to get a whole lot worse.  
"Is it over?" Stoyan asked, "Is this it?"  
"They should be showing it on the news any minute now," Zlata said, "All the robots should be deactivated by now. Hopefully that is it. We've finished Björkman's tyranny."  
"Yes, but we should make sure that we have finished it for good," Despina said, "We've got to go and capture Björkman immediately. Before he does something else. He doesn't have his robots guarding him anymore, and we've all got our guns."  
The news was filled with images of the Last Order, the world was shocked that such a thing could happen during the Eurovision Song Contest. In fact it was so terrible that it seemed no one in the media had noticed that the robots had all been deactivated. Not yet, anyway. The images of the burning stadium, Eurovision in disrepute... they thought this would be the worst of it, but they were wrong. Suddenly, the news switched to images of a burning London, zooming in on the ruined London Eye and the fire that was quickly engulfing the Queen's residence. Nuclear bombs were also starting to hit other major British cities, there was no escape as the United Kingdom fell into chaos. The country had went into a state of panic and underwent a complete and total meltdown. Newsreaders estimated that the tiny island nation may never fully recover. It was hard news to take for the British Eurovision entrant herself.  
"WHAT?!" Bonnie screamed in disbelief.  
"Just when you thought Björkman couldn't get any worse..." Roberto said, looking at the screen in shock.  
No one else said anything, they couldn't think of anything to say. Even after everything that had happened, they hadn't expected this.

\---  
  
The attacks on London continued, and it was all unfolding in front of them. And yet the Bulgarians still held on to some sort of misguided alliance to the regime. After all, Bulgarian citizens had been saturated with Swedish propaganda ever since the alliance was signed.  
"This is all your fault," Stoyan said, "You all had to be wannabe heroes, now look where it's got us! This is what happens when you mess with Björkman! You made this happen!"  
"We told you," Elitsa said, "We told you not to do these pointless things of yours. This really is all your fault."  
Bonnie was enraged by this.  
"How bloody dare you blame all this on us!" Bonnie screamed, as Marco had to physically hold her back from the two Bulgarians.  
"All your fault," Elitsa continued, "If you guys hadn't tried to take down the Empire, then none of this would have happened. Anouk and Eyþór would still be with us."  
"How dare you even use their names!" Bonnie yelled, "They gave their lives for freedom! Something that you two cowards wouldn't understand!"  
"Count yourselves lucky I'm holding Bonnie back," Marco said, "If you two idiots ever say anything so stupid ever again, I won't be doing this next time."  
Valentina interrupted them.  
"Stop it, please! Please stop! There's no time for this! We've got to go get Björkman now!" Valentina yelled, "Before he escapes!"  
Yes, now more than ever, the Eurovision entrants felt it was their job to capture the dictator and bring justice to Sweden. After all, it was them who had taken down the regime... now it was up to them to finish what they'd started.  
"We can't let him escape from justice..." Esma said, "Not after this... we just can't."  
"Yes, we should go," said Moran, "Bonnie, Engelbert, you guys stay here. I understand what you have just seen must be hard for you."  
And so they ran off, leaving the two Brits behind to contemplate the complete destruction of their country. Even after all the stories of what the despotic Swede was capable of, they were still shocked by this. The Brits thought that it could never happen to them, not here, not in Britain. How could Björkman do this to their country? Why?  
  
\---  
  
"How dare he, how bloomin' dare he!" Zlata yelled as the Eurovision entrants rushed off to Björkman's residence, "He has no right to do this!"  
He had taken so much from the world, and given nothing back. The Eurovision entrants knew they had to do something, and now was their chance. Björkman had come to Malmö to see the Eurovision, and now, the Eurovision was going to take down his dictatorship once and for all. They were here, finally here. This was the room in the stadium that was reserved with the tyrant Christer Björkman. The contestants were determined to end his tyranny. On approaching the door, they saw heaps of deactivated robots piled around the place. His guards. They wouldn't do him much good now.  
The entrants barged into the room, robots littering the floor, and Jon Ola Sand, Björkman's right hand man, now lying on the floor, deactivated. Björkman was there, cowering behind a chair, looking down at the deactivated robot sitting beside him.  
"Not so tough now, are you Björkman?" Zlata said, waving her gun at him, "Not so brave without your rustbuckets to do all your dirty work."  
"No... please," Björkman threw himself to the floor, "Don't kill me, please! I'll do anything!"  
"Coward," Zlata hissed.  
"Oh don't worry, we're not monsters like you," Moran said, "We'll make sure you get a fair trial, unlike any of your victims."  
"Thank you," Björkman muttered.  
"No..." Esma took out her gun and took aim, "That would be an injustice. Too many lives have been lost because of this man... we must never allow this to happen again."  
"No... no Esma please!" Björkman begged, "Please don't shoot me!"  
"Esma!" Vlatko said, "What are you doing? Surely we don't have the right to do this?"  
"And he didn't have the right to take so many people's lives," Esma replied, "Yet he still did it."  
"No, no," Björkman yelled, his hands held up in surrender, "Stop! Don't!"  
"Christer Björkman..." Esma said coldly, her gun still pointing at the trembling dictator, "We find you guilty of being a murderer and a war criminal... many innocent lives have been lost because of you..."  
"No, no, I'm sorry!"  
"It's no use," Esma said, "I'm going to make sure you never do anything like this ever again..."  
"Esma, stop," Stoyan said, "We'll only be sinking to his level... shooting him will make us just as bad as him. Don't do this."  
"Oh , my Bulgarian friend, thank you," Björkman grinned, convincing himself that they weren't going to shoot him, that he had gotten away with it.  
"Stoyan," Esma said, "We could never be as bad as this idiot... this complete and utter tyrant who has caused the deaths of millions of people... no. To let him live would be the real crime. His victims deserve justice. Real justice."  
With that she fired her weapon, and with a bang, the despot was no more.  
"There... it's finished," Esma said, "We've finally finished..."  
The Eurovision entrants just stood there in silence for a few minutes. They could hardly believe it. They had done it. It was over, it was finally over.  
  
\---  
  
And yet, for many people, it wasn't over. The true hardship had only just begun. The deaths of the British royal family in the nuclear attack on London lead to the United Kingdom, while still referred to as the UK, becoming a republic. Much of Iceland was still destroyed from Björkman's attack back in February. It would take many years for Britain and Iceland to pick up the pieces of their ruined countries. It would be harder still for Sweden to get back on the road to becoming a democracy again after having a dictatorship for so long, but the Swedes were determined to try their hardest, even though the entire world seemed to blame Sweden as a whole for the war... for the destruction... rather than just blaming Björkman. But, even though there were problems, it seemed that the world was getting back on track, that tyranny of any form in Europe was finally over, that people could live their lives in peace as they had done previously. That there would be no more violence. Things were going back to normal at a slow but steady pace. And yet, for all the mass celebrations that broke out all over the planet, there was still one unanswered question lingering in everyone's minds... what should they do with the defeated Scandinavian nation? What should become of Sweden now? How responsible were they for the actions of Björkman's Empire? But for now, these questions passed by, without an answer. These things could wait, for now, the world could settle down and look forward to the dawn of a new era... one that would hopefully be a peaceful one. At least nuclear war had been averted. They were thankful for that, at least.  
  
\---  
  
Winning wasn't everything, Anouk had been happy enough just to qualify. Krista reminded herself of that as she folded the Dutch flag small enough to fit inside the suitcase. It was Anouk's, but the other entrants all agreed that Krista should take it with her. Anouk and Krista had been very good friends, Krista still couldn't believe what had happened. And now, the Eurovision journey was coming to an end. All the participants of the Eurovision Song Contest were preparing to return to their respective countries. They had made it, they were the lucky ones. The Eurovision entrants would soon be on a plane, it was finally time for them to go home. Leaving behind Sweden, leaving behind this singing contest that had become so much more than just that. They still hadn't found out what the results of the contest were, the events with Björkman had happened before the voting as revealed, but Krista didn't care. That wasn't important, that wasn't what mattered right now.  
  
\---  
  
Krista went downstairs to find everyone else gathering in the main lobby. Vasilis from Koza Mostra was standing on the steps and reading from a sheet of paper.  
"Now, I understand that this is probably a bad time," Vasilis said, "But, on account of the competition being... cancelled... towards the end..." some of the entrants shuddered at the memories of the Last Order, "The EBU has sent the Eurovision results directly to... me! For some reason. Ah, it's very detailed. Ok, so, first of all, the winner is, Denmark! Well, I guess that's all we need to know for now. These results are going to be published by the EBU soon enough. Congratulations Denmark, you won."  
"Oh, uh, yay?" Emmelie wasn't much in the mood for celebrating, and neither was anyone else. Although this did clear up one thing. Next year's Eurovision would be held somewhere in Denmark, that is, if the EBU even allowed it to take place.  
  
\---  
  
And they did. Petra Mede spoke to the European national broadcasters who confirmed that they would allow a 2014 contest to take place next year in Denmark.  
Not that it gave much comfort to those who had lost loved ones in Björkman's attack on the contest... the Last Order. Nor did it make any of the 2013 entrants feel better, apart from perhaps Valentina, who announced her intention to enter again for San Marino soon after she arrived back home. At first she had regretted her decision to come back to the Eurovision Song Contest, but now, she was glad she had, to take part in the downfall of the Swedish regime. Back in San Marino, she was welcomed home a hero.  
"It'll be different next time," Valentina said to the cheering crowd on the streets of San Marino, "In Denmark, things will be different. Eurovision takes place in a democracy next time."  
  
\---  
  
Esma and Vlatko's coming home party was one of the biggest street parties Macedonia had ever seen. Esma had been the one to take Björkman out, and for that she was celebrated back home as the one to finally finish the Swedish dictatorship. They looked out across at the sea of flags and banners welcoming them back. Kaliopi was there with them too. Her kidnapping and later rescue from Björkman had started this, and so she was an honorary guest at their party. Esma was celebrating, but Vlatko couldn't help but feel that this was a bit of a hollow victory. The world had so many problems, and yet, here people were, celebrating.  
"This can only be a good thing, right?" Vlatko said, wanting some reassurance, "I know, I know that the world still has its problems. But, with Björkman's Empire gone, things can only get better, right?"  
"That's right," Kaliopi said, "No matter how much people try to destroy, no matter how much people try to rip the world apart, it won't work. Life always finds a way, and love wins in the end."  
Well, that sounded good. Vlatko hoped it was true. For now, he would accept that it was, and he and Kaliopi went to join in with the celebrations.  
\---  
  
Robin stood on a hill, overlooking the streets of Sweden. Björkman's Empire was gone, and Sweden was going to have a long and probably painful journey back to democracy. There were still those in other countries who wanted revenge against Sweden, revenge for what Björkman did. It was understandable, Björkman's Empire had done a lot of bad things, but that was not the fault of the ordinary Swedish people. Robin only hoped that peace would prevail.  
  
\---  
  
Björkman's rule was finished. It was finally finished. The Swedish dictatorship was no more. And it was all down to the Eurovision Song Contest, and its final victory over Björkman's Empire. It seemed that the Eurovision had triumphed over tyranny, and restored peace to the world. What was once a source of mockery for many people was now a symbol of hope and victory. The 2013 entrants were celebrated and treated as national heroes back in their home countries. But they would never forget those who had fallen trying to take down the Björkman regime, and those who had sacrificed themselves trying to bring about the democracy that Sweden longed for once more. For it was them who had truly brought this new age upon the world. But it's all very well to look at the wars and misery of the past and declare that you are in another time, that things are different now, that it will never happen here. But it can always happen again.  
Fin.


End file.
